Report: Obama ordered overseas target list for American cyberattacks

President Obama issued a directive calling for a target list
of potential overseas targets for U.S. cyberattacks, according to The Guardian.

TheGuardian reported that an 18-page top-secret presidential
policy directive issued last October instructed intelligence and Defense
officials to draw up plans for Offensive Cyber Effects Operations (OCEO) that “can
offer unique and unconventional capabilities to advance U.S. national
objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or
target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging.”

The directive calls for identifying “potential targets of
national importance where OCEO can offer a favorable balance of effectiveness
and risk as compared with other instruments of national power.”

The development comes as President Obama is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in
California.

The Obama administration has accused the Chinese government
of conducting cyberattacks on U.S. government agencies and corporations.

The Guardian posted the full
text of the classified directive, citing an intelligence source with
knowledge of the NSA’s systems who said that the U.S. had conducted offensive
cyber operations and hacked into foreign computer systems to mine information.

The source said that the United States blames China publicly
for “doing what we do every day.”

"We hack everyone everywhere. We like to make a
distinction between us and the others. But we are in almost every country in
the world,” the source said.

In January, the administration had published declassified
talking points about the directive, but it did not include ramping up offensive
cyber operations or selecting potential targets.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden, said
in a statement that the directive was issued in response to evolving
cybersecurity threats.

“The directive will establish principles and processes that
can enable more effective planning, development and use of our capabilities,”
Hayden said.

“It enables us to be flexible, while also exercising restraint in dealing with
the threats we face. It continues to be our policy that we shall undertake the
least action necessary to mitigate threats and that we will prioritize network
defense and law enforcement as the preferred courses of action.”